Mexico’s Sheinbaum says no agreement exists with DEA on ‘Project Portero’

MEXICO CITY (Reuters): Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday said her government did not have an agreement with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration over an operation known as “Project Portero” after the DEA announced this project.

The DEA on Monday said in a statement it was launching a “bold bilateral initiative” with Mexico aimed at dismantling drug smuggling corridors.

“The DEA issued this statement, we do not know on what basis. We have not reached any agreement through any of the security agencies with the DEA,” Sheinbaum told a morning press conference. “We do not know why they put out this statement.”

Sheinbaum said Mexico’s foreign ministry had been working for several months with the U.S. State Department on a security coordination agreement, which was now “practically ready” and provided a framework for coordination initiatives.

This agreement prioritizes sovereignty and “territorial respect, which is to say each of us operates in our own territory,” she added.

A group of civil protection police officers have also been participating in a workshop in Texas, Sheinbaum said.

The DEA had introduced Project Portero as a “flag ship operation aimed at dismantling cartel ‘gatekeepers,'” and a “major new initiative to strengthen collaboration between the United States and Mexico in the fight against cartels.”

The DEA said it launched a multi-week training program at one of its intelligence centers on the southwest border, bringing together Mexican investigators and U.S. defense officials and prosecutors who would identify joint targets and coordinate strategies.

Some Latin American countries have a complicated relationship with the DEA and its interventions on Mexican soil have sometimes been criticized by the government as a violation of sovereignty.

Earlier this year, Washington designated some Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations, prompting Sheinbaum to say she would not accept foreign interventions or intrusions that violate Mexico’s independence.